Gina Jackson Personal Fitness

Pilates is all about breathing, moving and building your strength; one breath at a time.   To heal and correct a body’s old habits requires re-training and re-education of motor control.  This involves new postures, movement patterns, mobility concerns and muscle imbalances. The Pilates method is a graceful, yet rigorous form of addressing each of these areas.  Private session training helps one to learn and work towards removing painful postures, correcting faulty movement patterns, improving mobility where needed and increasing stability where required.  In a studio setting, student and teacher work together to create an environment for optimal muscle balance and function. Read the rest of this entry →

After months of being locked inside, the last day of the series coincided with the first day of Summer. The weather cooperated (sans a little wind) and we took it to the mat outdoors. Read the rest of this entry →

A collaborative community effort with Omega Development Center brings mid-week and weekend Mind/Body and Weight Loss classes to Guttenberg, NJ.  We have lined up a number of amazing teachers to provide classes in Yoga, Tai Chi, Strength, Pilates and all with Child Care options for parents!

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I experienced two powerful Pilates workshops this summer. Two days were spent with other Pilates teachers, masters and instructors in the First Annual Power Pilates Teacher’s workshop; two days wonderfully jammed packed with eye opening, mouth watering, spine correcting details one could ask for – under $500. Read the rest of this entry →

We did it again! Another great Saturday morning in Braddock Park, this time we were Jammin’ In The Square.

In addition to the regular Upper and Lower Body work using the resistance bands and balls, a Pilates Mat inspired workout was used Read the rest of this entry →

Pilates, Yoga, Salsa Dance, Kickboxing and Boot Camp programs were the five featured exercise disciplines in the June 2007 issue of Bergen Health & Life. ThePilatesClub.Net and Gina Jackson, are among the experts featured in the publication.

The Hundred is a key exercise I use to instruct any client to begin stabilizing their abdominal wall. No matter what the age, size or shape or gender. The ability to stabilize the back, contract the abdominals, pump the arms and breathe at the same time can be very challenging for a beginner student.

Check out the article, the details for performing this exercise as well as the others featured. By the end of the summer, you may find yourself in a different body!

Work different muscles by varying your
routine

(HealthDay News)
– Cross training involves varying the type of exercises you do in each workout, to work different muscles.

For example, you might combine a cardio routine and weightlifting in one workout, for example use the elliptical and jump off the machine to perform some walking lunges, use the stationary rower followed by a lunge with a bicep curl and then simply go swimming the next time or take a pilates class.

Here are some of the benefits of cross training, courtesy of the University of Michigan
Health System:  You’ll work and condition your entire body, not just one area.

• You’ll limit stress on one area or set of muscles, preventing overuse injury.
• You can keep exercising — even if you do have an injury — by exercising other muscles or areas.
• You’ll help prevent boredom.

It’s what I do personally for all the reasons listed above.   Check out ThePilatesClub.net and TheStrengthClub.net  for some real examples.

Then, I recommend you use it on your abdominal work. If you only have 15 minutes to work out, use them to warm up with 1)The Hundred, then 2) Rollup, 3) Roll Like a Ball and do the 4) the Ab Series.

If you are clueless as to what the heck I am talking about then my second recommendation is to stop by ThePilatesClub.Net. You can learn from the dialogue with teacher, students and forum discussions or download a workout to help you with the fifteen minutes. Read the rest of this entry →

The Sept/Oct issue of PilatesStyle Magazine features an interview with
Bob Liekens, the Director of Teacher Training at Power Pilates, the studio and training facility I call home.  The article is well worth a read for all you pilates enthusiasts as Bob, an international name in Pilates Training,  is crisp and clean in his thought and in his style of teaching.  He works really hard to honor the integrity, precision and quality of teaching the Pilates Method.  While I have had the pleasure of occassionally working out in and near him while he is training others (we share a smile, a laugh or a wink and an occasional correction during an exericse) I am still (after a year) trying to book a semi-private session with him – the man moves around a lot!

Back to the article and the reason for bringing up his name is the resonance I felt with his comment in the last half of the printed interview when asked, what a Pilates lifestyle meant to him,"  Bob replied,

"Being aware of living in a body and enjoying the physicality of the life experience.  It means being aware of the responsiblity you have toward your body.  Don’t say "I have back trouble" or " I have knee trouble" and then just take medications or leave the responsiblity to a doctor.  Take care of your body and do what you can to prevent these issues.  If you move (and I add when you move) you just feel better, which helps you deal with your mental and emotional balance.  So just get out there and please enjoy life.  The problem is too many people take their bodies for granted and then can do nothing but complain when something goes wrong.  Be aware of what you’re eating and how you’re breathing, be aware of the steps you take, and choose quality over quantity."

He goes on, "Unfortunately, in America, it’s quantity over quality.  Of course, on the other hand, don’t be a gym nut.  That’s not healthy either.  After all, Joe Pilates liked his cigars and whiskey too."

It felt good to read my own thoughts and mantra coming from him.  Many of my clients have heard me utter the same words to them for my training advice is to live life fully – it is too short not to – and to work fully and consciously thru your training so that the living feels alive.  When you do, you can feel good about the glass of wine, the piece of apple pie and an occassional shot of whiskey.  At the end of it all, you have earned the right to experience it!

Please enjoy the article, the magazine and remember the mantra the next time you are working out!

Core
strength cannot be achieved with one exercise, one discipline or one magic set
of repetitive exercises. Sorry to burst
your bubble!   Pilates is great, but it is not the be all to end all programs of exercise! 

A
lean abdominal wall is visually appealing but 2-3 sets of crunches with or
without a stability ball or medicine ball will not create “six pack” abs either, if you
have a layer of mushy fat on top of the muscle. 

You
really don’t need a fat emulsifier, fat burner or fat metabolizer. You don’t need (and should not consider using
without your physician’s knowledge and admonition) ephedrine or MaHuang to burn
or whittle away your waistline.  Those $29.95 electric belts won’t do the trick
either. Simply put, lean abdominal are
the result of your food choices, the calories burned and the muscle strength
developed.

Let’s
discuss food choices, and keep it simple. Eat lean protein sources,
fish, chicken or beef, nuts and/or legumes. Eat complex carbohydrates
(fresh vegetables
and moderate consumption of fresh fruit). Minimize or eliminate simplex
carbohydrates (sugars, starch, and refined
foods) and drink water frequently, minimizing beer, alcohol and sweet
fruit
juices.

Burning
the calories is pretty standard and the rules are simple: move the body at a
rate such that you achieve the greatest
rate of fat burning in the 65% to 75% range of your target heart rate. This
will keep you in an aerobic state, guaranteeing adequate oxygen is supplied and
allowing your body to burn fat. You want to move such that stored body fat will
continue to be used as energy. Bear in mind this is hard to do “walking and
reading” or “walking and talking.” Leave
the reading material for resting times and move at a pace that churns and
burns. For example, if you are trying to
lose weight and body fat, set a goal for yourself to work up to heart strength conditioning such that you can maintain
100 rpm on a cycle for 10-15 minutes and jog a 7-10 minute mile with ease.

There
are a plethora of abdominal exercises available for strength
training. Many you know and use regularly already.  Two very basic
Pilates exercises you
may incorporate into your existing program to assist development of your deep
tissue abdominal, building muscle strength from the inside out are the Half Roll Down and The Hundreds.
 

The Half Roll Down

Start in a seated position, knees
bent with feet on floor and legs tightly squeezed together. Hands holding on
behind knees throughout the exercise. Round your spine into a "c"
curve and roll down toward the floor one bone at a time, only until arms
straighten (hands stay behind the knees), then roll back up to starting
position, maintaining the "c" curve in the spine throughout. This is
excellent in opening up the lower back which is generally quite tight.
 

The Hundred
Lying flat on back, bend knees into chest and then
extend legs up to the ceiling (keep back long and flat) and bring head up (chin
into chest). With arms beside the body, vigorously pump arms up and down,
taking a  breath for with this tempo (inhale for 5 pumps, exhale for 5 pumps). Take 10 or more breaths.
Note: As you get stronger, lowering the legs and extend them  (keeping back flat) to a 45-degree line from your hips.